Thursday, June 30, 2011

Highlights

The XDAS Mini RAID box offers a truly innovative eSATA(3.0Gbps)/USB2.0/ Firewire 800 (8 bay model) solution for use with your PC and Mac workstation. Designed and leveraged with Aberdeen's existing high performance RAID technology, this RAID box delivers high-capacity performance at the best of cost/performance value. With RAID box technology, it allows one HDD failure without impact on the existing data and failed drive rebuild is transparent to the host.

Unparalleled Performance 8-Bay Model

The 8-bay XDAS Mini unleashes a truly innovative multiple hosts (with 3.0Gbps eSATA, USB3.0, FireWire 800, iSCSI/AoE and USB2.0) solution for both PC and Mac. The eSATA port delivers in excess of 220 MB per second (MB/sec) sustained RAID 0 reads and over 210 MB/sec RAID 0 sequential writes. High transfer rates make this unit well suited for audio/video application especially the rapidly growing demand from the Mac Video Editing markets. The Intelligent cooling continuously adapts to environmental conditions by automatically controlling the speed of the cooling fans. This XDAS mini also offers a super silent design, optimizing balance between noise reduction and necessary cooling.

Performance 4-Bay Model

The XDAS Mini RAID solution unleashes the power of 3.0Gbps performance and NCQ support on the eSATA host port. The eSATA port delivers in excess of 210MB/s sustained RAID 5 reads and over 176MB/s RAID 5 sequential writes. The result is superior overall performance compared to other 4 bay eSATA solution. High transfer rates make the XDAS Mini well suited for audio/video application, especially the rapidly growing demand from the Mac Video Editing markets. With the target mode multiplier emulation, both eSATA and USB2.0 host channel (with port multiplier function) can support multiple volumes (up to 4).

The Aberdeen XDAS-HD, which is part of the XDAS Series Direct Attached Storage line, can easily exceed 800MB/s transfer rates. With this untouchable performance the XDAS-HD provides the ability to not only handle simple 1080i HD streams but it is robust enough to edit and review as many as 10 HD video streams simultaneously without any frame skips and stream 4K projects flawlessly.

Aberdeen’s can deliver industry leading 10Gbit transfer rates. With this untouchable performance Aberdeen provides the ability to not only handle simple 1080i HD or 10 HD video streams simultaneously and it is robust enough to stream uncompressed 4K.

Aberdeen’s 24-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch offers a full suite of advanced Ethernet switching. In addition to the 24 ports at 1-gigabit per second, the NT602 offers up to 4x 10-gigabit per second "uplink ports". These uplink ports can be used to connect to 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbone networks or servers with 10-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity - or they can be "stacked" to create a larger capacity switch. Fiber or copper wiring options are available.

teRRIFIC FOR VIDEO SERVING OR OTHER STORAGE-INTENSIVE TASKS"

- PC MAGAZINE

Key Features:

High performance, redundancy, and connectivity 8Gb and 10GbE interface supports

High performance/availability SAS or SSD drives and high capacity/lower cost SATA drives in a single system, the flexibility to reduce total cost of ownership (true mix-and-match of drives in a single enclosure)

Dual RAID controllers available

Scalable with expansion ports to couple with business growth

Environment monitoring with SEP/SES Support

Redundant and hot swappable fans and power supplies reliability and easy maintenance

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The AberSANV30 IP SAN video storage appliance brings the simplicity of a network attached storage (NAS) solution to a SAN environment, optimized with server virtualization for the distinct needs of the video security storage and surveillance industry.

By combining Fibre Channel and iSCSI block level connections with multi-user network sharing, Aberdeen meets the technical needs of any major surveillance expansion program and reduces the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by future proofing capacity limitations with unlimited storage expansion capabilities.

The AberSAN provides enterprise class unified storage resources for centralized environments needing high-capacity protected storage alternative for any business involved with the planning, deployment and management of a security infrastructure and in need increasing data protection whilst reducing deployment costs.

One of unique key feature for the AberSAN V30 is RAID-Z. This robust RAID architecture provides a level of virtually unlimited hard disk drive parity for protecting against disk failures along with an inherent self healing disk drive RAID feature. Along with an industry leading five-year warranty, the AberSAN also is available for HA clustering and complete fault tolerance to combat points of failure.

Monday, June 27, 2011

GPU computing is the use of a GPU (graphics processing unit) to do general purpose scientific and engineering computing. The concept for GPU computing is to use a CPU and GPU together in a heterogeneous computing model - the sequential part of the application runs on the CPU and the computationally - intensive part runs onthe GPU. From the user’s perspective, the application just runs faster because it is using the high performance ofthe GPU to boost performance at 1/10th the cost and 1/20th the power consumption of the latest quad-core CPUs.

Advanced System Management
Aberdeen’s advanced IPMI capability allows the GPU system to be managed directly via the remote monitoring / controlling features. All the key elements of the server system- CPU, GPU and power supply- can be remotely monitored, along with standard onboard IPMI functionalities.

Advantages of Aberdeen GPU ServersAberdeen’s GPU server family provides many feature advantages of interest to the user community.

Highly Reliable Thermal Optimization
Aberdeen’s advanced thermal subsystem designs optimize the cooling elements of the server with the thermal characteristics of the GPU, CPU, motherboard, and other components. Each thermally controlled fan module is 1+1 paired in a counter rotating matched set, which maximizes the cooling effect. This design enhances system reliability and simplifies maintenance. In addition, by monitoring both CPU and GPU thermal readings though the I²C bus, Supermicro’s unique intelligent cooling control and auto fan-speed adjustment keeps the entire system in stable operation.

Direct GPU Connect ArchitectureUtlizing the Supermicro design architecture provides direct Gen2 PCI-E x16 non-blocking connectivity to each GPU to take advantage of the full bandwidth of the GPU. No extra cabling is required, since the GPUs are connected directly to the server motherboard via riser cards, thus improving reliability, airflow, and maintenance, as well as reducing costs.

Applications and Industries
This new line of highly parallel, multi-core, multi-GPU systems is an excellent choice for an extensive range of graphics and computationally intensive applications in a wide variety of industries. In general, these systems are expected to make the fastest teraflop clusters much more affordable and accessible for users throughout the world.

Applications requiring high arithmetic intensity, such as dense linear algebra, partial differential equations, n-body problems, and finite difference formulas, can be easily accommodated using these Supermicro SuperServers. High bandwidth problems such as sequencing (virus scanning, genomics), sorting, and database problems are also potential applications. Finally, visual computing problems such as graphics, image processing, tomography, and machine vision, being original applications for GPUs, are especially accessible.

Fields where these types of problems are common and can benefit from Aberdeen's GPU servers include medical, energy, telecommunications, finance, science, and engineering in a wide array of application areas such as:

The Aberdeen XDAS iSCSI are the world's first iSCSI to SAS/SATA RAID arrays with up to six Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports on each controller. They help users achieve best-in-class performance while benefiting from the affordability and straightforward management of IP SANs.

Best-in-class performance can be acheived by combining multiple host channels into portal groups to increase the applicable bandwidth of each iSCSI session. 2, 3, or 4 GbE links can be grouped into TCP sessions so that bandwidth can be expanded for a server demanding higher throughput.

High Speed IP SAN with Powerful Scalability

Aberdeen furnishes all its XDAS D-Series iSCSI 10G-to-SAS/SATA models with two 10GbE iSCSI ports on each controller and a new SAS2.0 6G hard drive backplane. When data grows out of the capacity threshold of a single subsystem, you can scale it up to an installation housing more than one hundred drives through expansion enclosures. Powered by the new-generation RAID engine as its heart, the new D-Series iSCSI-to-SAS/SATA Series can deliver outstanding performance for processing large amounts of data. The no-delay, smooth operations it enables can satisfactorily meet the service levels your business requires. Coupled with the broad support for enterprise-level OS and server virtualization, it can serve as data storage for top-tier applications.

High-Availability SAN Delivers Great Price-Performance

Data availability is critical to any business operation. Aberdeen's XDAS D-Series storage solution features high-availability hardware designs with redundant, hot-swappable hardware components, such as RAID controllers, power supplies and cooling fans to eliminate single point of failure. Hardware RAID protection ensures data accessibility during drive failure. In the event of a power outage, CacheSafe technology will automatically leverage power of the Battery Backup Unit (BBU) to safeguard cached data by writing it to the flash module for permanent retention. To protect valuable data sets against more critical threats, the D-Series also supports local and remote replication capabilities. Data availability can be achieved with minimal downtime in case of human errors or data volume failure by employing D-Series replication features. Leveraging Infortrend's world class RAID engine and Fibre Channel protocol, XDAS D-Series storage solutions deliver breakthrough performance for demanding business applications. The models supporting Small Form Factor (SFF) drives can further increase performance density to support highly IO-intensive applications.

Flexible Scalability

The XDAS D-Series storage solution supports dynamic scaling to aid in the planning for future storage growth while satisfying the current storage needs. Flexible drive type and capacity support (2.5-inch or 3.5-inch, SAS or FC, and various drive sizes) satisfies current applications and enables you to accommodate future needs. D-Series storage solutions can be expanded to more than two hundred drives to meet the proliferation of storage growth. The “scale as you grow” flexibility of the D-Series storage solution minimizes the upfront investment and provides the best overall Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA).

Intuitive and Easy Management

Storage management should be simple. The XDAS D-Series storage solution includes a comprehensive management software suite, SANWatch, to centrally manage multiple D-Series subsystems over a standard TCP/IP network. Status and event information summary can be viewed on the portal window. Necessary functions to configure, manage and monitor the D-Series are only a few clicks away. Besides providing all firmware features through a user-friendly GUI, SANWatch also supports script-based configuration of multiple XDAS D-Series subsystems simultaneously. Automatic critical event notifications can be customized to suit the most critical storage environment. SANWatch will guide users through initializing, configuring and maintaining the EonStor DS every step of the way.

High Energy EfficiencyContributing to environmental sustainability, the XDAS D-Series storage solution enables energy cost-savings while maintaining performance. It is equipped with power saving designs such as high-efficiency power supplies, dynamic cooling mechanism and intelligent multi-level drive spin-down technology.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

As the demands for data storage continue to increase on a global scale, a new technology standard has emerged to address the drawbacks of DAS, NAS, and SAN data storage solutions. Enter iSCSI. iSCSI (Internet SCSI) or SCSI over IP, was developed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and ratified in February 2003. iSCSI transmits data via TCP/IP over existing network infrastructures, but with high performance blocklevel I/O. Instead of fragmenting and encapsulating actual data files into packets, as with NAS, iSCSI encapsulates much smaller SCSI command blocks.

This results in data transmission speeds at nearly the same rate as direct SCSI connections, and relieves the network of bandwidth depleting file level storage traffic. In addition, since block-level I/O is transferred over IP, high performance data storage is no longer held captive to just LAN and MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) environments, but is now applicable in WAN environments as well. Without the distance restrictions associated other storage solutions, iSCSI presents an effective way to accomplish high performance offsite disaster recovery. Use of iSCSI is also a great way to consolidate or “pool” data, making management a snap. This results in higher storage utilization which helps to keep IT costs down.

The advent of iSCSI enables small and medium businesses to reap the benefits of enterprise level Fibre Channel storage solutions, without the expense of implementation and mandatory support expertise. Companies now have a cost effective storage solution that provides high performance, utilization of existing network infrastructures, and centralized storage.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

"We are a startup company, just passing our 10th year from making our first delivery in 2001, and it felt like we were dealing with ‘one of our own’ – a company that was responsive and nimble.” –Dave Finger, VP Customer Technical Services Pictometry International

Challenge

Pictometry International specializes in taking aerial images and selling them to their clients in a package they call an image library. These image libraries can range from 50 gigabytes to 4 terabytes or even larger, and deploying Pictometry’s image libraries often overwhelms their clients’ servers. Pictometry soon realized that they needed a large storage device for enterprise environments, which could not only deliver their data but that could also host it at their customer’s site. The device had to be reliable and needed multiple failover points.

Aberdeen’s Recommendation

Because Pictometry was looking for a network attached device, Aberdeen knew its NAS would meet their customer’s needs. It needed to stand on its own, without the host server, and it needed to be able to be accessed directly from workstations without necessitating upgrades to Pictometry’s existing network.

Whereas Aberdeen’s competitors would have recommended something pricier – for example, a small scale SAN with features that would look impressive on paper – Aberdeen delved into the customer’s true needs to ensure that those needs were met and that they also weren’t wasting their money on features that they would never use.

Implementation

Before finding Aberdeen, Pictometry had been using a consumer level single drive product to deliver their data, making them look unprofessional in their customers’ eyes. Aberdeen’s NAS solution is essentially a turkey product, and was up and running for Pictometry in a matter of minutes. They started small, by ordering one or two units at a time, but once they saw that the product satisfied the need for their market perfectly, those orders quickly grew to up to 45 units at a time.

Results

By combining their product with Aberdeen’s, Pictometry was able to market it as a complete solution for their clients. Each customer that has an AberNAS system deployed has been quite pleased, and not once has a Pictometry customer reported that the AberNAS was an inadequate solution to deploy their image libraries.

Not only has the AberNAS satisfied Pictometry’s storage needs, but it has the added benefit of being able to be used as a platform for Self-Hosting. After that realization, Pictometry even bought two AberNAS units for internal development and testing use. They have also twice taken them to their annual User Conference and shown them to customers that are interested in Self-Hosting. The Pictometry Engineering department uses their AberNAS daily as a staging platform to test Self-Hosting and POL.

SAN (Storage Area Network) is a network dedicated to providing storage to enterprise servers. SANs are traditionally configured using special switches and storage devices that communicate via Fibre Channel protocol. The Fibre Channel protocol uses block-level SCSI commands which are transmitted over serial, rather than parallel connections, and can span up to 500 meters. Servers connect to the SAN using special Fibre Channel HBAs (Host Bus Adapters) capable of transmitting data at 1Gbps, 2Gpbs, and soon even 10Gbps.

SAN configurations are desirable for many reasons. SANs isolate data storage traffic on a dedicated Fibre Channel network which increases bandwidth and data availability on the enterprise LAN. SANs also offer a centrally accessible/manageable data store easing administration. While SAN storage solutions lead the pack when it comes to performance, scalability, and management, they do suffer drawbacks.

The primary disadvantage of SANs is cost. Since it is still a rather new technology, Fibre Channel equipment remains expensive, as is the support required to implement and maintain it. Another drawback of SAN is its distance limitation. Although higher than SCSI DAS, SANs still have a practical distance limitation of 250-500 meters. This limitation has proven inadequate for businesses and government agencies requiring offsite interstate disaster recovery plans. SAN solutions have been adopted by enterprise businesses, but continue to elude small and medium businesses, reluctant to implement due to costly dedicated hardware and IT support expertise.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Optimize productivity and maximize network storage capacity. As an innovator in network attached storage solutions, Aberdeen is proud to be the first company to provide both Linux Powered NAS and Windows Powered NAS. The AberNAS data storage solutions provide OS choice, performance power and easy to use features to support today’s most dynamic and demanding network infrastructures, regardless of IT environment.

Not only do you have the unprecedented right to choose your OS, Aberdeen also is the first to market an integrated NAS appliance solution with iSCSI SAN based on 3TB (3000GB) SATA III 6Gb/s Enterprise RAID Edition disk drives.

The complete Aberdeen line of NAS appliance solutions allow the benefits of a feature-rich, high-performance network attached storage without the high cost of ownership. The AberNAS network-attached storage appliances range from 2TB in a 1U up to 198TB in a single server.

Network attached storage (NAS) has become a popular storage solution. NAS appliances are storage devices that connect directly to the LAN via a standard Ethernet port and use the familiar TCP/IP protocol to communicate with network peers. TCP/IP works by dividing up actual files into many small fragments, encapsulating them into packets, then sending them as frames through the LAN or WAN (Wide Area Network). NAS is an attractive storage solution for some businesses, but proves to be inadequate for others.

Plug & Play Implementation

Ease of Management

High Network Overhead

Limited Scalability

One advantage of NAS over other storage technologies is its ease of implementation. The plug and play nature of NAS makes it a flexible storage option for small businesses and is easily administered by existing IT staff. In addition, the use of TCP/IP eliminates distance limitations associated with DAS storage solutions. As a result, NAS appliances can be accessed over the network regardless of their physical location. Among the disadvantages of NAS is its high network overhead and limited scalability. Storage data to and from the NAS must travel across the same network as other servers, which burdens the LAN, and limits bandwidth. NAS scalability is also an issue for many organizations. As data storage demands increase, additional NAS devices must be added to the network, complicating management. As NAS appliances accumulate on the LAN, storage traffic continues to increase, consuming network bandwidth, and decreasing data availability.

Friday, June 17, 2011

DAS, in its most basic form, is simply a storage device, such as a hard drive, with a dedicated parallel connection to a server. In larger installations, data is stored to DAS RAID disk subsystems. Servers connect to DAS devices via SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) or Fibre Channel ports capable of transmitting data at a rate of up to 320MB/sec. SCSI is a transfer protocol which uses very fast and efficient granular block I/O commands for transferring data to the DAS device. DAS storage has its share of strengths and weaknesses. Speed and security are two advantages of DAS. With up to 320MB/sec transfer rate, DAS is currently the fastest storage solution available today. DAS is also very secure since it utilizes a direct physical connection to the server, and cannot be spoofed (tricked) into giving access to unauthorized sources.

High Performance I/O

High Security

Distance Limitation

Low Scalability

The major disadvantages of DAS are its distance restriction, high network overhead, and limited scalability. SCSI device connections cannot typically exceed 12 meters, which means data storage is usually confined to a single room, or even within a single system enclosure. Network File-Level access to DAS devices is accomplished by sharing the data through the host operating system. Sharing storage in this manner eats up system resources, burdens the LAN (Local Area Network) with storage traffic, and decreases network bandwidth. Another DAS handicap is limited scalability. Since the storage device connects directly to the server, when additional storage is required, more servers must be added. As a result, storage management becomes increasingly complex and costly as demands for data storage grow.

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Aberdeen

Aberdeen LLC is a leading manufacturer of Servers, Storage Servers, NAS, SAN and DAS Storage Arrays and a pioneer in developing innovative high performance Intel Xeon-based servers and expandable storage server solutions. Aberdeen can customize storage servers to scale beyond 1 Petabyte delivering exceptional performance, unparalleled reliability and outstanding value. Aberdeen’s award winning products feature an unrivaled 5-Year warranty and are deployed every day by IT departments in many of the world’s largest organizations.